Centigrade 232

Last updated

Centigrade 232
Centigrade 232.jpg
Studio album by
Released8 October 2007
Recorded1986
Genre Spoken word
Label Voiceprint Records
Robert Calvert chronology
At the Queen Elizabeth Hall
(1989)
Centigrade 232
(2007)

Centigrade 232 is an album and a book of poems by English writer and musician Robert Calvert, recorded in 1986 and released in 2007. The poem Centigrade 232 was set to music by Spirits Burning in 2001. Some titles were set to music by Hawkwind and issued as The Brock/Calvert Project in 2007.

Robert Newton Calvert was an English writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist and member of the space rock band Hawkwind.

Spirits Burning is a musical collective that features musicians associated with space rock and progressive rock, including input from members of Blue Öyster Cult, Clearlight, Gong, and Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.

Hawkwind English rock band

Hawkwind are an English rock band and one of the earliest space rock groups. Formed in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and they have incorporated different styles into their music, including hard rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock. They are also regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes.

Contents

Overview

Calvert had regarded himself first and foremost as a poet and writer and his original involvement with the English rock group Hawkwind from 1971 was as a lyricist and narrator of "space-age poetry" at gigs. It was later as a solo performer and his second spell with Hawkwind from 1976 that he had become more recognised as being a singer and front-man of a rock band, but he continued actively writing poems and plays during this time.

In 1977 a collection of his poems were compiled and published by Quasar books, the title being (allegedly) the temperature at which writing paper burns "signifying the writer destroying his rough drafts". [1] This is an allusion to the Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 and possibly the film thereof, 451°F being equivalent to 232 Centigrade.

Ray Bradbury American author and screenwriter

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. He worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, and mystery fiction.

<i>Fahrenheit 451</i> dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best works. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title: "Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns..." The lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.

<i>Fahrenheit 451</i> (1966 film) 1966 film based on the novel by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 British dystopian drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, and Cyril Cusack. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury, the film takes place in a controlled society in an oppressive future in which the government sends out firemen to destroy all literature to prevent revolution and thinking. This was Truffaut's first colour film as well as his only English-language film. At the 1966 Venice Film Festival, Fahrenheit 451 was nominated for the Golden Lion.

Some of the poems are pieces he had performed with Hawkwind during the Space Ritual show, such as "The First Landing on Medusa" which was performed as "The Awakening". Others would be adapted into Hawkwind songs, such as "The Starfarer's Despatch" and "The Clone's Poem" which were combined into "Spirit of the Age". The poem "Circle Line" won the Capital Radio Poetry Award in 1975. [1] The book received a launch party at Battersea Arts Centre, London, which also featured performances from Cream lyricist Pete Brown and Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth. [2]

<i>Space Ritual</i> live album

The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the Billboard Top 200, peaking at #179.

Spirit of the Age is a 1977 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally recorded and issued on the album Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

Cream (band) 1960s British rock supergroup

Cream were a British rock band formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of lead vocalist/bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. The group's third album, Wheels of Fire (1968), is the world's first platinum-selling double album. The band is widely regarded as the world's first successful supergroup. In their career, they sold more than 15 million records worldwide. Their music included songs based on traditional blues such as "Crossroads" and "Spoonful", and modern blues such as "Born Under a Bad Sign", as well as more current material such as "Strange Brew", "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Toad".

In 1986 Calvert started issuing cassette tapes of his work under the imprint of Harbour Publications. One of these tapes was the full recitation of the Centigrade 232 collection. Other releases comprised recitations of the unpublished Earth Ritual poems collection and two music tapes, Blueprints from the Cellar Volumes 1 and 2, which contained home demos of songs, some of which would be released in completed form on the albums Freq and Test Tube Conceived .

Freq is a 1985 album by English singer and musician Robert Calvert.

Calvert's Centigrade 232 tape recitation was first used with music on the second Spirits Burning album Reflections in a Radio Shower, released in 2001. Don Falcone took the original recording of Calvert reading his poem Centigrade 232 and integrated it into the track Drive-By Poetry. [3] Lines from another Centigrade 232 poem ("Ode To A Crystal Set") appear on the CD's opening track Second Degree Soul Sparks.

Don Falcone American musician and producer

Don Falcone is an American musician and producer. Originally a poet-performer in Pennsylvania, he relocated to San Francisco at the beginning of the 1980s. He was a member of Thessalonians and the original Melting Euphoria, had a solo project called Spaceship Eyes, and since 1996 has led the Spirits Burning space rock collective. Various cable and TV network programs have also used Falcone's music.

In October 2007, Voiceprint Records re-issued Centigrade 232 in a package containing both a reprint of the 1977 book and a CD of the 1986 recitations. [4]

Voiceprint Records label head Rob Ayling passed a copy of the cassette tape of Calvert's recitations to Dave Brock and asked him to set some of the titles to music. The music was played by the then current line-up of Hawkwind, but some titles were lost at the mixing stage delaying the release until August 2007. [5] The release was credited to the Brock/Calvert Project.

Centigrade 232 album

Track listing

All titles by Robert Calvert

The First Landing on Medusa
  1. "Swing"
  2. "Ode to a Crystal Set"
  3. "The First Landing on Medusa"
  4. "Ode to a Time Flower"
  5. "Some Sketches of a Hand"
  6. "The Starfarer's Despatch"
  7. "Song of the Gremlin"
  8. "The Pause"
  9. "The Clone's Poem"
  10. "Centigrade 232"
  11. "Fahrenheit 451"
  12. "The Naked And Transparent Man Gives Thanks"
Buster Keaton and the Virgin Sperm Dancer
  1. "Dance Steps"
  2. "Lines for a Conception Card"
  3. "Lady with a Looking Glass"
  4. "The Siren"
  5. "Buster Keaton and the Virgin Sperm Dancer"
  6. "Your Time"
  7. "A Refusal To Mourn The Removal, By Surgery, Of Two Benign Tumours"
  8. "Circle Line"
  9. "An Unposted Letter"
The Urban Mountaineer
  1. "The Clerk"
  2. "Cleaning A Rapidograph"
  3. "A Letter of Complaint to the Council"
  4. "Fly on the Screen"
  5. "The Recovery"
  6. "Nail Biter"
  7. "Mountaineering in Suburbia"
  8. "The Last Kitten"
  9. "Caterpillar"
  10. "Snowfall"
  11. "Insomnia"
  12. "Storm"
  13. "Overslept"
  14. "The Day We Hunted Birdsong"
  15. "Fountains in the Park"
  16. "Coots"
  17. "Ragworm in a Rock Pool"
  18. "Shell"
  19. "Beachcombing"
Ragworm in a Rock Pool
  1. "Seagulls (1)"
  2. "Seagulls (2)"
  3. "Recollections of a Seaside Love Affair"
  4. "The Drowned Man"
The Red Baron Regrets
  1. "Churchill's Secret Rock Deal"
  2. "The Red Baron Regrets"
  3. "John Keats at Margate"
  4. "Voodoo Child (In Memory of Jimi Hendrix)"
  5. "The Legend of Ezra Pound"

Use by Spirits Burning

Tracks with Calvert

Calvert appears on two tracks on the CD Reflections In a Radio Shower. All words by the vocalists and lyricists on the track. All music by all personnel on the track.

Personnel

Use by The Brock/Calvert Project

Track listing

All words by Robert Calvert. All music by Dave Brock, except 9 and 11 by Brock and Jason Stuart

  1. "First Landing on Medusa"
  2. "The Siren"
  3. "Ode to a Timeflower"
  4. "Small Boy (The Swing)"
  5. "Centigrade 232"
  6. "Dance Steps"
  7. "The Naked and the Transparent Man Gives Thanks"
  8. "The Cupboard"
  9. "Long Time Friend"
  10. "Letter of Complaint to the Council"
  11. "Locked In"
  12. "Some Sketches of a Hand"

Personnel

Release history

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References

  1. 1 2 www.aural-innovations.com – The works of Robert Calvert – part III: 1976 – '78
  2. www.aural-innovations.com – Centigrade 232 book launch, a memory report by Sandy Cameron]
  3. – Calvert Collaborations
  4. www.voiceprint.co.uk Archived 24 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine – Release VP403CDMO
  5. www.davebrockrobertcalvertproject.com Archived 6 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine – The Brock/Calvert Project official mini-site